The Church of England's Diocese of Derby has launched into cyber-space this week in a bid to provide a network resource for its 255 parishes and offer the wider community inspiration and information about the Christian faith.

The new web site, www.derby.anglican.org has around 130 pages which include services such as 'Search for a church'; 'Search for a school' and lists of events across the Diocese which covers approximately the same area as Derbyshire.

Visitors to the web pages will also find an Introduction to Christianity, which lists helpful web sites where more can be found out, as well as inspirational stories about people in the Diocese who are living out their Christian faith in all sorts of ways. Communications Officer Ruth Green, who has overseen the development of the site, expects the services on offer will increase over time.

"Although the site is already quite a large one from launch, it will continue to grow according to the needs of our parishes and the communities of Derbyshire. For this reason, the next phase of development has not yet been planned. We're waiting to find out how people will use the site and what they want from it in the future," she said.

The Archdeacon of Derby and Chairman of the Diocese of Derby's Communications Committee The Ven Ian Gatford said: "Over 60 per cent of our clergy are on the internet and the number of people going online is increasing all the time. As a Church, we must acknowledge that and make the most of this fast and flexible medium."

The web site, designed and built by Nottingham-based Melchior Telematics, will not replace paper-based communications in the Church but over time, it is expected that the number of mailings will decrease as electronic forms of communication become more commonplace.


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